Monday, August 13, 2012

In Design School Frank Gehry was and still is one of my favorite architects. When we were in Seattle I had to go see his Experience Music Project just so I could say I have been to and seen one of his buildings. (Unfortunately on that trip my camera crapped out and I lost all photos...)

His envelope pushing style and design gets a lot of praise and a lot of criticism. Either way when I heard he had designed a "Make It Right" Home for Hurricane Katrina Victims I had to check it out! "Make It Right" is the charity started by Brad Pitt to help Hurricane Katrina victims in the Ninth Ward build new housing. Local architects and designers throughout Louisiana, along with a lot of nationally known architects have have been donating time and resources to build new, affordable, green homes for the residents to move into.

Gehry hasn't designed many homes in his career so this is kind of a big deal. The home he designed for New Orleans is in the vernacular style of southern Louisiana joined with his personal style.

Homeowners get to choose their own exterior colors of the home. This one is a duplex and both homeowners choose bright fun colors; both from Benjamin Moore's Natura and Aura zero- VOC line. It's said that Brad Pitt encourages this and all the Make It Right homes and bold and colorful.

The interior seems pretty simple. Materials for the home are Green and costs are kept down. Each home is supposed to cost about $150,00- $200,000 and homeowners pay what they can toward the house. I'm not sure if materials are donated or purchased. The flooring is made from postindustrial recycled content.

Windows are abundant throughout the home. Natural daylight was important to have according the Gehry.

This home has 4 balconies for each home owner including a rood deck. Snazzy! The solar panels and geothermal energy heating and cooling systems keep the energy costs low- I believe one homeowner said her energy bill is only $25 a month!

I also found this video explaining more about the house- enjoy!

I love the outside, the style and all those balconies! Awesome! The wood flooring is beautiful and I love that it is green. The kitchen is pretty bare but that's expected since costs are kept low.

So what do you think? Do you totally dig it or can you live without it?